Hold a grudge? You bet

Thursday

Jan 31, 2013 at 5:42 PM

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is in New Orleans for the Super Bowl and all the festivities leading up to it.

Michael GormanEditorial Page Editor

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is in New Orleans for the Super Bowl and all the festivities leading up to it.Some have debated whether he should be treated well or poorly, whether Saints fans should forgive and forget the grievous harm he did the team with his witch hunt over Bountygate or harbor a grudge against the most reviled football figure in recent memory.I’m all for holding a grudge.Around New Orleans, there have been signs of bitterness against the commissioner. Goodell’s picture has cropped up on dartboards, and he has even been hanged in effigy.The faint have fretted over whether servers, for instance, can be trusted to treat Goodell professionally in this atmosphere of hatred.I can promise you this: If there is a tip involved, the service professionals of New Orleans will take good care of him, no matter how thoroughly hated he is.Beyond that, though, there is a feeling that just the signs urging people, “Don’t serve this man,” over a picture of Goodell could sour his feelings for New Orleans so much that the Superdome misses out on future chances to host the big game.Nonsense.The NFL isn’t in New Orleans because Goodell likes New Orleans. He clearly doesn’t, or Bountygate would have ended when he had no evidence against the players allegedly involved in it.The NFL is in New Orleans because it is the perfect place to host a Super Bowl.In most cities, the stadium is far away from the city center, the tourist attractions and the hotels — not so in the Big Easy. People staying on Canal or Poydras can easily walk to a delicious breakfast spot, check out some street music in the French Quarter, hit the casino and end up at the Superdome, all without having to get into a taxi.All of that is true no matter how many signs or Carnival floats ridicule the commissioner.The larger and more interesting question to me is how Goodell is going to have time to get out on the town and enjoy New Orleans’ famous hospitality when he is so busy kissing the hand of Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis.One classic image from this year’s playoffs is of Goodell and Lewis embracing on the sideline before the Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Denver Broncos.Lewis is enjoying his victory lap at the end of a long and distinguished career in the NFL. He will surely be a Hall of Famer the first time he is eligible.He is also the subject of some unsavory allegations.The most-recent of these are that he used a substance banned by the NFL when he was recovering from a triceps injury earlier this season.The substance, a chemical found in deer antler of all things, is some supposed miracle curative. Whatever.The fact is that the banned-substance cloud has enveloped Lewis as he and his team prepare for the biggest game of the year.But he needn’t worry. Goodell has already promised him a job whenever he does leave his playing days behind him.After all, it’s not like he killed anyone, is it? Ummm.There was that unpleasantness back in 2000 in which two people were stabbed to death outside an Atlanta nightclub.Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in that case in exchange for testimony against his two companions on that deadly night, but no one was ever convicted of the two slayings.So Goodell, who spent much of the past year hounding Saints players, former players, coaches and executives about a scheme in which players were supposedly paid to injure opponents is now hugging and promising jobs to a man who has blood on his hands (or in his car, at least) and is suspected of using banned substances.Keep it classy, Roger. I’m sure the waiters will wait on you, but I wouldn’t mistake their outward kindness for anything other than obligatory groveling.While you’re in town, step out to a neighborhood bar and see what the real folks think of you. (But you might want to bring your buddy Ray Lewis with you in case you encounter some Saints fans who aren’t being paid to grovel.)

Editorial Page Editor Michael Gorman can be reached at 448-7612 or by e-mail at mike.gorman@dailycomet.com.

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